The Importance of Colour in Your CD Design

If you want to grab eyes as well as ears with your CD, you need colour. Bold and beautiful or cool and calming, colour can reflect so much more than just your music. You have just a handful of seconds to make a visual impact, and most buyers will first see your artwork on their phone screen, so getting your colours right is vital.

Pay Attention to Detail

When you’re using on body print for your CD, pay attention to the quality of the artwork so you don’t end up with a pixelated mess instead of the meaningful image you selected. Think hard about the way colours will reproduce so you can really nail it. The final design will dictate the kind of printing method used, but whether it’s screen or litho printing, at VCD Group we can guide you through every step of the process.

Why is Colour Important?

We all associate colour with various subliminal signals, using them to read the world around us. We associate reds and yellows with friendliness and warmth, purples with richness and luxury and blues and greens with calm and peace. We associate colours with different temperatures, feelings and moods. Using colour to reflect the music listeners will hear is a smart move, giving a visual clue to your audience or playing with their expectations.

Take Inspiration From the Greats

The Clash’s ‘London Calling’ cover is a stone cold classic, which was directly inspired by an old Elvis Presley cover, right down to the use of a pink and green colour scheme. Why does it work? Partially because red and green are a classic colour relationship on the colour wheel and partially because the colours play with our expectations. The colours say sweet, the imagery says something else. It’s a trick the Sex Pistols also used for their ‘Never Mind…’ album cover.

Don’t Play it Safe

Be bold and make your mark. Use unexpected colour combinations – listen to your music and start doodling designs and colours. The right on-body print is crucial, so contact us to get your design and your music out there.